The Swiss had been heavily criticised for his performance against Nadal on Monday but he showed his fighting spirit to recover from 2-5 in the opening set against David Ferrer and win 7-5 6-2.
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The statistics did not make pretty reading for the Scot, who made 29 unforced errors and won just 10 per cent of points on his second serve in the second set.
The Scotsman was beaten heavily by Rafael Nadal in his second match of the tournament at London’s O2 Arena, requiring him to beat Wawrinka on Friday to keep his hopes of progression alive.
It was the Spaniard who started strong, breaking Wawrinka in the fourth game, but the two-time Grans Slam champion broke Ferrer in subsequent games in the ninth and 11th to wrap up the first set.
Nadal improves to 16-6 lifetime over Murray.
Murray will team up with Brazilian Bruno Soares next year looking to build on the best season of his career, which was capped by grand slam final appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Nadal and Murray are friendly rivals and the Mallorcan, a man with his own form for hair adjustments, couldn’t resist making his own contribution on the issue of the mid-match haircut.
“I had a few hair in my eye, and I just wanted to get rid of it”, said Murray, clearly annoyed with the line of questioning.
Muray added: “I served extremely low percentage, maybe lowest percentage I served the whole year in any match”.
“I think I’m close to knowing which direction I want to go with it, I just want to have a chat with one or two tried and tested confidants and then I’ll try and communicate with the players as possible because I think that’s better all round”. I go day-by-day. I am playing much better, practising very well, practising a lot.
The effort at staying competitive in the first set seemed to come at a mental and physical cost in the second, leaving Murray flat.
However, it was a smooth sail for Wawrinka in the second set. He wasted no time in cutting it, saying it only took him two seconds to get it done.
As Nadal resumed his assault in the second set, Murray again fumbled with his serving and a double fault paved the way for another break.
“I think it wouldn’t be fair for myself and it would be a little bit pretentious or arrogant if I say, yes, I’m in another league”.
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The result (on the court) means Murray will in all likelihood have to beat Stan Wawrinka in his final round-robin group game to progress to the semi-finals.
